The Winklevii Respond! “Assholes” Hit Back at Larry Summers

Did you hear? Former Harvard President Larry Summers recently called the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss—the two Olympic-rowers who (among other things you should know about them) claim to have invented Facebook—”assholes.” And now they have hit back!

Brief recap: The Winklevoss Twins went to Mr. Summers to try and get Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Inventor, in trouble. It became the stuff of such lore, it made its way into a movie. You may have heard of it.

Well, now they’ve reached out to current Harvard President Drew Faust. They want this addressed! And they say so in an email we obtained straight from the source.

Highlights:

They are not the only “assholes” at Harvard: “To be clear, his remark was not limited to us, but extends to any undergraduate who chooses a particular form of attire.”

Larry Summers is rude and gluttonous: “It was not his failure to shake hands with the three of us upon entering his office (doing so would have required him to take his feet off his desk and stand up from his chair), nor his tenor that was most alarming…”

Larry Summers cares not for ethics: “…but rather his scorn for a genuine discourse on deeper ethical questions, Harvard’s Honor Code, and its applicability or lack thereof.”

And is “disturbing”: “…it is deeply disturbing that a professor of this university openly admits to making character judgments of students based on their appearance.”

We (Cameron Winklevoss ’04, Divya Narendra ’04 and Tyler Winklevoss ’04) are writing to discuss the recent remarks made by currentCharles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard Lawrence H. Summers at Fortune’s “BrainstormTechConference” on July 19, 2011. Specifically, Mr. Summers referred to us as “assholes” for wearing ties and jackets to our meeting with him in April of 2004. To be clear, his remark was not limited to us, but extends to any undergraduate who chooses a particular form of attire.

As a matter of background, on March 15, 2004 we petitioned the Administrative Board (Ad Board) of Harvard regarding a disciplinary issue concerning Mark Zuckerberg ’06-’07 in connection with the development of a website the four of us had been working on together. Despite what was, from our perspective, a clear violation of the Student Handbook, which states “all students will be honest and forthcoming in their dealings with members of [the Harvard] community,” the Ad Board declined to involve itself. As students of a university that promulgated an expectation of “intellectual honest[y] [and] respect for the dignity of others,” we sought a discussion with then President Summers regarding what we believed to be an inconsistency in the University’s posture on this matter.

As a result, we decided to attend student office hours of the President, a two hour monthly block of time specifically allotted by President Summers for students to discuss any and all matters of concern with him. We sent a polite and rather un-swaggering email beforehand for the purposes of background (please see attached). It should be noted that Mr. Zuckerberg’s name was purposely omitted from our email in an effort to focus the discussion on what we perceived to be a larger issue than the incident specific to ourselves. Simply put, we went to his office seeking advice and mentorship, not further conflict.

At office hours, we waited in his reception area but were told that we would have to return next month because there were more students in the queue than time allowed. In April of 2004, we returned to office hours and were successful in meeting with President Summers. His manner was not inconsistent with his reputation and present day admissions of being tactfully challenged. It was not his failure to shake hands with the three of us upon entering his office (doing so would have required him to take his feet off his desk and stand up from his chair), nor his tenor that was most alarming, but rather his scorn for a genuine discourse on deeper ethical questions, Harvard’s Honor Code, and its applicability or lack thereof.

We now further understand why our meeting was less than productive; someone who does not value ethics with respect to his own conduct, would likely have little interest in this subject as it related to the conduct of others. Perhaps there is a ‘variability of aptitude’ for decency and professionalism among university faculty.

Regardless, it is deeply disturbing that a professor of this university openly admits to making character judgments of students based on their appearance. It goes without saying that every student should feel free to bring issues forward, dress how they see fit, or express themselves without fear of prejudice or public disparagement from a fellow member of the community, much less so from a faculty member.

Ironically, our choice of attire that day was made out of respect and deference to the office of the President. As the current President, we respectfully ask for you to address this unprecedented betrayal of the unique relationship between teacher and student. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Cameron Winklevoss ’04
Divya Narendra ’04
Tyler Winklevoss ’04

Will the Winklevii be dignified?
Will they get a response?
Will they be called assholes by yet another Harvard President?
Will this continue to sway public opinion in their favor, such as it is?
Will the rights of Harvard undergrads who wear ties in the afternoon ever be so valiantly fought for ever again?
And will they ever find out which one is older?

They’re the questions we want answered. And they lay in the hands of one Harvard president, who is likely very, very inundated by all of this right now.

Comments

What exactly were the supposed to wear when meeting with the President of Harvard? Larry Summers f@%(d up the country. I don’t particularly like the Winklevii (they got screwed, they got paid, move on) but A) Zuckerburg is a scum bag liar who happens to code well
and B) Summers is f&$%(g failure and an idiot for his comments. Get some perspective.

Zuck got lucky with Facebook (a common term). He pretends to want to connect people but he’d rather sell everyone’s info out to make billions. All these people suck but the twins less than the others. Least they aren’t lying scumbags.

No way. The level of self-parody is unreal. How do you have a $64 million settlement and still act like an aggrieved campus advocacy group when someone calls you an asshole? Why do they even give a shit?

Betabeat is now the newly launched Innovation section of the Observer. All your favorite features and columns—as well as exciting new areas of tech coverage—can now be found at Observer.com/Innovation.

Don't miss the latest and best writing on technology and the future of business innovation. Add the Innovation section to your RSS feed and follow the Observer on Twitter and Facebook.